Thoughts From Today

The Lord has really worked in my heart today. 

From bridging last week's sermon to this morning's and then the awesomeness of our young couple's class tonight. God is so good. 

It was a sweet Sunday worshipping and learning with my brothers and sisters in Christ. 

I have to share. The sermon last week and then today were so helpful for me. Forewarning, I'm an intense notetaker, so forgive me in advance for how long this post may be!

Last week the sermon was on predestination and election (with scripture from Ephesians 1:3-6), two words that can be pretty "explosive" at times. For many, many years those two words have stirred up churches. We need to know what they are first--from vs. 4&5. 

If you are IN Christ, a christian, you are one because of God. In HIS GRACE and FOR HIS GLORY, He has chosen me to be so. In His love He has predestined me to be one of His children. The bible isn't a dictionary where we can just look these two words up. They are a gift from God. 

But, these two words are not going away. They are in the bible and we have to deal with it. 

We should approach these two subjects the way an excited child approaches presents under a Christmas tree. Let God, Jesus, The Holy Spirit be the tree and think of election and predestination as the gifts that we receive from Christ for those that are IN Christ--these gifts of GRACE. 

In Ephesians 1:3-14 we see that it is one, long sentence. Paul is so excited, that he doesn't even stop! This is the kind of breathless excitement we SHOULD be reading Ephesians 1 with-a chapter of the bible that often times turns into a debate these days. 

Election and predestination do not need to be defended! They only need to be celebrated, that's it!

In vs. 3-6 Paul is pumped up! He wants us to celebrate with him and here are two reasons WHY:

1. Election and predestination give the bible a unifying message: 

First and foremost this is about God, about His actions, His moment by moment existence in everything that there is. 

He created the stage (vs. 4 states "before the foundation of the world") AND He wrote the script and one of the unifying themes is God's choice of His people: look at Abraham, Israel, the apostles, all woven into all 66 books of the bible. 

The bible's main plot line includes us, His children. It includes God's choosing of us, of Christians. 

2. Election and predestination-because of them, my salvation is a sure thing

In John 6:35-40 Jesus gives us a lesson: "Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that The Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lost nothing of all that he has given me but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day." 

The teacher of these two truths is Jesus. 

Does the bible teach that people come to Christ of their own or of election? The answer is yes. vs. 37 of John says: "All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out." Divine sovereignty and human responsibility. He never lets us go once we come to Him. 

Lastly, two results will happen when you believe these truths:

1. You will be humbled. People just can't believe in these truths because of pride. It's hard for us to fully believe and trust in these gifts and to see them just as that, gifts. 

2. We will be moved to worship. Ephesians 1 is infused with worship. Worship is all about making much of God and all that He has done! 

I thought it was a great sermon and was so helpful to me to hear because I have always struggled with the best way to approach those two truths when asked about them, or more so, challenged about them and I was given so much peace when I saw they are things we should just celebrate! Biblical truths that we can seek refuge in and thank God for!

Then today's sermon related to last weeks so perfectly. 

Redemption as found in Ephesians 1:7-13

We are a people chosen BY Christ. But, here on this earth we have something blocking our path to our predetermined destination-sin. 

This is where Jesus comes in-to remove our road block. 

Matthew 1:21-"She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save people from their sins." and why? Matthew 20:28-"...to give his life as a ransom for many"

Redemption is from Jesus. It's what fuels the powers of praise for Him. 

1. Redemption reminds us of who we are:

It reminds us that we are sinners for whom Jesus HAD TO DIE. 

Sin is such a "skirted around" word these days. Sin is blamed on human nature, and it seems to always make us look like victims. But, we aren't! We sin. We choose what to do/not to do. 

What separated us from God IS sin. We ARE sinners, who sin every. single. day. 

Redemption speaks of God saving us from something we can never save ourselves from...sin. 

When it comes to sin, we are all "naturals" at it. 

I mean, how often do you have to teach your children how to do the wrong thing?

Sin enslaves us to do IT'S will; our natural will. To try and fight sin that is in our own will--we find out quickly we will lose. We need God's will. 

Sin gets us into debts that we can not pay off. Sin is a debt that we owe. We can't pay it off with good works. We can't pay it off period. Sin is bondage. We are sinners who sin and THAT is why we need a redeemer, THE Redeemer. 

2. Redemption reminds us of the riches of God's grace:

God has come to deliver us from bondage of all that sin encompasses in our lives. God HAS to do it, we can not. 

vs. 8 states that "..that He lavished on us..." He lavished His grace on us for ALL of our sins--past, present, future. The debt has been paid in FULL-"it is finished"

When Jesus redeems you, He forgives you. You are wiped clean. God forgave ALL, not some, of your sins. "Jesus paid it all" 

You will hear "the voice" accusing you, reminding you of what you've done but remember Psalm 103:12 "as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us"

To show the bridge between last week (predestination and election) and this week (redemption) we are shared with this story: The story of Hosea and Gomer. A man marries a woman with, what you could say is a past. Through their marriage she becomes unfaithful, leaves him, and the bottom point of the story for her shows her standing naked in the middle of the town for all the men to "inspect" and see who could bid the highest on her. The highest bidder? Her husband. "I have bought you. You must live as mine. You must not belong to another so that I may always be your husband."

Sin degrades and dehumanizes us. It tears us away. Hosea and Gomer's story is our story. We are Gomer. We flirted with and fell for the world and all it has to offer. BUT, Jesus, our true lover brought us back with HIS OWN BLOOD. He clothed us, covered us, and He says "I have bought you. You must live as mine. You must not belong to another so that I may always be your husband."

I am so thankful for a God that redeems. What a joy we have in knowing that we are so loved by Him that he DIED for us. He died to save us. To save me. It's a truth I've know since the day I became a Christian, but a truth that never ceases to amaze me.